The original star of The Princess and the Frog is speaking up about Disney canceling the planned TV show centering around Princess Tiana, and her words are notable!
Back in 2020 (which feels so much longer than five years), Disney announced plans for Tiana, an animated series exclusive to Disney+. It would have been a sequel to 2009’s The Princess and the Frog, which had been intended to restart a new era in hand-drawn animated features.
Like many projects announced that year, the show hit several delays despite Joyce Sherri joining in 2023 as showrunner and writer. It was really at the point that many forgot it even existed.
Finally, Disney confirmed in early March 2025 that the series was not going forward. For that matter, Disney was now putting the focus on long-form animation only for theatrical releases.
It is a letdown for fans of the movie and especially its star!
Tiana voice actress breaks silence on Princess and the Frog show cancellation
A big push of the show was going to be Anika Noni Rose reprising her role as Tiana. Plot details are scarce but it sounds like it would have followed the movie as Tiana lives in New Orleans, running her restaurant while still married to Prince Naveen. That would have included a trip to his home country.
In an Instagram post, Rose shared her sorrow at not getting a chance to reprise her role again.
“I too am deeply disappointed that the continuation of Tiana’s journey in series form has been cut short. The series was a long time coming, and a lot of beautiful work was put into it by all of the creatives involved, including but not limited to long-time champion Jenn Lee, our wonderful writer/director Joyce Sherri, some fabulous animators, and an amazing music team.”
Fans have been smoothed over by the cancellation news that came with the announcement of a short film featuring Tiana, with Rose eager to see it arrive.
“As hurtful as it is for anything you’ve put your heart and soul in to be prematurely ended, my hope is that when what is now to be a Tiana Special Event airs, that all of you beautiful, loving, loyal fans who’ve been championing not just the series, but a Princess and the Frog sequel, tune in.”
This is a sad move by Disney that comes at an odd time for its animated films.
Disney’s animation issues
Disney was reeling as 2024 opened as Wish, meant to be a celebration of the company’s 100th anniversary, instead became a huge bomb.
That led Disney to make the surprise decision to rework a planned Moana TV series into Moana 2, which did end up a monster hit grossing over a billion dollars. However, the decision to focus on sequels more than original tales may affect Disney down the road.
Dropping Tiana is a disappointment, as the 2009 movie should have become a much bigger hit. Had it succeeded, perhaps Tangled or Frozen could have been hand-drawn features and perhaps had a bigger impact.
While Princess and the Frog wasn’t a huge success in 2009, it’s grown in reputation over the years and a good audience for it. Tiana is a regular face at the parks and a show based on a Disney princess should be a no-brainer for a company that masters merchandising.
It’s more confusing as one would think Disney would have wanted to capitalize on the remake of Splash Mountain into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. An animated series about her would have also reached a wider audience and provided Disney+ with a much-needed original animated show to get younger viewers interested and led to more subscribers.
We don’t know exactly what led to the decision to cancel Tiana. It could have been obvious cost issues or story issues or Disney wanting to drop more original fare for Disney+. Like the original film, it seems a missed opportunity for Disney not to give the character more attention and once more shows the problems of Disney’s current animated fare that we can hope gets corrected soon.
The Princess and the Frog streaming on Disney+.